MMZ: Blackest Shadows
by I Embraced My Darkness
Summary: A year after his revival, Kuro is forced to do what one never should have to. Dr. Weil seems unstoppable, the Resistance is still recovering from the battle two years ago, society is crumbling. Is there hope? can anyone stop this Hell?
1. The cost of oversight

Like so many times before, Kuro Shadowhisper Transmitted back to base after chasing down another empty lead. He slowly trudged his way from the primary Transmission hub of the NeoArcadian Army. He shook his head as he exited the building into the now dull city, things had changed so much in the year he had been inactive and had been getting worse in the year since.  
The Transmission shield was always active, with the exception of occassional breaks for the military's own use. Because of the bubble that surrounded the City, the little sunlight that managed to get through was spectrum-shifted to a matte grey. It had been the first thing that he'd noticed upon his reintroduction to the "utopia", the colors that had once shone brightly were flavorless and drab. He often attributed this as part of the daily worsening depression of the people around him.  
The people on the streets may not have openly harrassed them, but the hatred of Reploids ran deep in their blood. This hate was furthered by the fact that now the only Reploids that hadnt been retired or branded maverick were now the Labor and combat types; returning the status of Reploids to servants of man, less than human, simply smart machines. Even so, all of the same humans were under the protection and almost daily care of these machines they so hated.  
The Reploids were, equally reviled by their status drop. Simple rights that had seemed granted by mere existence were now far out of their reach; rights to own things such as businesses, homes and vehicles, rights to free speech, rights to not be arbitrarily retired at the random word of anyone higher ranked than themselves.  
Kuro would have mused at how far this city had fallen, had he the good humor left to do so. However, the sight of the administration building loomed ahead as his destination, further adding to the darkness of his mood. Inside he had to report to the man who, quite literally, controlled his fate; the twisted and utterly sadistic Dr Weil. He pressed on, gritting his teeth as he entered the lift, and the door shortly opened to reveal the cause of all the grief inflicted upon the city, and much of the past century's calamities.  
Auric Thaddeius Weil, was the worst of humanity packed into an equally unappealing cybernetic body. The Humans, however, thought he was their salvation from the Reploid menace. This was the man responsible for the Dark Elf becoming the corrupting, destructive force it was. This was the man who had in his quest for absolute power, ressurected both Kuro and Copy X. Reproggramming them both to suit his needs, yet leaving their personalities and combat skills intact, had created two perfect killing machines; capable of potentially regretting their every action and never being able to stop any of it.  
The Doctor's face twisted into a leering sneer as Kuro snapped off a crisp salute. "Failed again?" Weil's dark voice came through teh speaker on his suit, sounding somewhat amused.  
"There was no sign of any activity in the area for weeks," Kuro responded, not allowing the relief at that fact to show.  
"The Resistance was almost completely destroyed on In the battle two years ago," Weil turned his back to Kuro and the shutters on the window he now faced slammed open on a wordless command. "How is it that a ragtag group such as that could still be on the lam?"  
"I don't know, sir?"  
"Latent Command!" Auric commanded  
Kuro knew what was coming next and dropped his system defenses, allowing the other presence in his mind, that he knew was his former self Shade Kraven, start to erect file barriers around anything that Dr Weil might ask about that needed to be hidden from the sadist. Every nanosecond could possibly allow lives to be saved.  
"VERITAS!"  
At the word, Kuro lost all controll of his own vocal and mental functions, -All archived information at your disposal Doctor- the voice was his, without any emotion or thought.  
"Disclose all information discovered on this mission."  
-The mission was unsuccesful in uncovering the whereabouts of any known Resistance Members-  
Weil's face turned to a scowl as he realised that Kuro wasn't lying. but he needed to have a control in this experiment. When he was reprogramming the Reploid, there was a great deal of Black Box Data that he couldn't access, mostly focused around the physical component known as a Shadow Drive. However, he knew that if he removed the Shadow Drive, it would have permanently disabled the Reploid. Shadowhisper was not only a great weapon agaisnt the Resistance physically, but had been with the Resitance and sacrificed himself for them. He knew that he couldnt afford to NOT use the psychological warfare involved with one of their heros turning blade against them.  
"Disclose what youve been trying to hide from me about Leviathan."  
It was too late for Shade to realize he'd missed something when he was trying to protect the few things Kuro knew about the Resistance's current status and location. He would have swore every curse in every known language were he capable of expressing.  
-Unit Siren "Fairy" Leviathan... is currently Engaged to, and bearing the child of, Unit Kuro Shadowhisper-  
The resulting chuckle started out, sounding as a throaty cough-like sound. it however grew into a fullborne laugh with enough menace that all who heard it, even two levels below, quivered. "END LATENT COMMAND MODE!"  
Kuro shook back to reality, somehow knowing that something monumentally horrible had just happened as the leader of Neo Arcadia bore down upon him with a look of the purist sadism ever concieved.  
"WAHAHAHA! PREGNANT? ENGAGED? AHAHAHAHAAAA!"  
Kuro felt like his core had shut down and his power was slowly draining from his every system. He couldn't reply, nothing he could think of could slow down the monster before him more than an ant could stop a nuclear warhead.  
After almost an entire minute, the laughter slowed back to a chuckle. "Oh my foolish, foolish, toy. You've commited two egregious crimes. Those were the first two things i removed from Reploids! Procreation and marriage!"  
"D-don't," Kuro's fear prevented him from being able to say anything more. He desperately wanted to rip the blade from his hip and charge the man in front of him, however these were impossible due to Weil's safeguards.  
The Doctor hovered over to a console, "I won't," He replied as he brought up a screen and adjusted a few settings. "You will."  
A flash of light appeared between them and Leviathan stumbled to catch her step, instinctively tugging her shirt down to hide the slight bulge of her stomach.  
"NO! PLEASE!" Kuro screamed  
Leviathan's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen, "K-kuro?" A begging plea or a question, it wasn't clear.  
"LATENT COMMAND! ABSOLUTE ORDER!"  
"NOOOO!" Kuro screamed as he felt all motor control leave him, tears streaming from his eyes.  
"KILL HER!"  
The activation of a beam saber and even Leviathan's scream were drwoned out by the laughter of the worst human to have ever existed.


	2. REQUIEM!

For once, even Fefnir understood and seemed to take Kuro's side as the dark clad warrior was curled catatonically on his maintanence bed after Harpuia was called to collect Kuro and "some scrap" as the orders had specified. The scene he had encountered would haunt him forever.

"Shadowhisper," He tried to force himself to say something to comfort the man who had just ended things more precious than anything to himself. However, Harpuia's hand cut him off.

Sage Harpiua brought his hand back to make the 'shhh' handsign, quietly saying, "reality is not where he should be at this moment. Although his eyes projected the emotion of wishing to join Kuro in whatever disconected reality he was in at the moment. He gently pulled Fefnir away by the arm. "Come,Master X is waiting so we can..." He gaged on what he was about to say, "dispose... of our sister with... some... dignity..."

Titan "fighting" Fefnir clenched his fist with rage and started hurrying away, knowing he couldnt possibly hold his bestial scream much longer. as a matter of fact, the moment he got outside and the door closed behind him, his voice shook windows for almost a block from the sheer energy of his emotion, "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLL!"

Copy X grasped his subordinates shoulder with a strong grip, he stared with cold eyes at the black coffin, his expression showing he felt the same way. "W-We cannot act. N-Not alo-o-one. We must endu-u-u-u-re."

"Not alone?" Sage gently rested his hand on the coffin containing his sister's remains. "She was bad enough. But the child as well I swear that i will one day-"

"ENOUGH!" a new voice interupted the Guardian before he could say anything directly 'Maverick'

"What the hell do you want Craft?" Fefnir growled at one of Weil's favorite pets.

"I've come to pay my respects," the large man in assault-grade military-green armor looked like a walking tank. The Bayonette Cannon strapped across his back furthered that look even more. "I knew as well," He took his cannon off his back and set it down, "We all knew."

Scoffing Fefnir kept egging the Reploid on, "you knew? Bullshit! if you knew then Weil-"

"He doesnt control my beliefs!" Craft chested up to the strongest brawler in at least the past 50 years. He wasn't looking for a fight, but he knew how the minds of Fefnir's type worked. they needed to be stood up to for you to be heard.

Recognizing his brother's shaking his arms loose, about to go toe to toe with another S-class fighter unarmed and unarmored. "STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!"

"Yes," Copy X affirmed, "w-e-e-e-e're pa-a-aying respects, not starting a ci-i-ivil war."

The two stepped down from each other before both resting a hand on the coffin, Copy X joining them as well.

"Fairy," Sage started, "you've been one of the few Reploids able to hold onto any hope, your loss is not only devistating to us, but it will weigh heavy on our society."

"Sister," Fefnir had to fight off crying a little longer, "you were an inspiration. Losing you will darken this city even further. To think we'd lose you both... y-you both..." He grit his teeth and bowed his head, recognizing his defeat to his emotions, unable to say more.

Craft nodded, "you were a great teacher, if not for your training I'd have never become so good at protecting our city. I wish i were given the chance to teach you something at some point to show my gratitude for not only your lessons, but your driving me to reach as high as i can. I'll reach the stars themselves someday and deticate it to your memory."

Copy X, "Si-i-iren, you were a per-er-erfect subordina-a-a-ate. You didn-n-n't jsut bli-i-i-ndly follow me-e-e, you ga-a-ave input. Y-y-you gave advi-i-ice, even whe-e-en i didn't a-a-a-sk it. You'd even defy-y-y-y me on occa-a-a-asion when the resu-u-u-ult of following or-or-orders would have led to disa-a-a-aster. I just wi-i-i-ish you would have follo-o-o-owed MY advice when it ca-a-a-ame to the chi-i-ild."

Copy X's hand formed into his buster, and the sound of a plasma-charge was the only thing heard aside from Fefnir's sniffle as they all stepped back and saluted.

Focusing so he didnt stutter, Copy X yelled before he fired a short-range burst on the coffin, "REQUIEM!"

The other three repeated, "requiem..."

The engagement ring, a simple reinforced gasket, tingled as it hit the ground. the ring somehow having been the only thing to survive the blast, only scorched, but otherwise no worse for the wear.


	3. A new war begins

[A/N: to anyone who's wondering what happened to Zero-3, the context of the series was changed in Shadowed Grasp. Due to how things went in the year Kuro was gone, Weil's grasp closed faster than in the games. I will be incorperating some elements of 3 into this, but mostly this will be its own story. I hope you all like how I reenvisioned the conclusion to the series... its pronounced "ee-ver", french for winter.]

"All Stations to High Alert!" A klaxon sounded as the male Operator's voice came over a loudspeaker. The lights in the Barracks of the NeoArcadian Army shifted to red to emphasize the alert status.

Bodies moved at a frantic pace as the Reloids donned their armor and primed weapons before moving over to the room with several Transmisson pads which would take them to various locations depending on which pad they used.

Kuro rose slowly, his body sluggish as if moving on a faulty auto-pilot. He recognized the forms of the Guardians and Copy X trying to usher more order to the chaos. He pulled on his armor-vest and put his beam saber on his hip. "It's been a week..." He thought slowly as he released the deathgrip he'd had on his saber, dreading the fact that he'd touched the weapon that took his beloved.

The control-programs Weil had installed in him drove Kuro towards the Transmission pad labeled "Admin". As he stepped on it, he felt the lurch of being broken down into data and rematerialized in another place. He steeled himself as he exited the Transmission station inside the Administration Building, reserved for emergency use.

Dr Weil was issuing commands to his own personal unit he called the Einherjar, commanded by Craft. The nine reploids responded in affirmation before dispersing and leaving for their various assignments. Harpuia and Fefnir arrived in the room with Copy X shortly behind them.

Copy X saluted, "All un-n-nits to st-sta-a-tions sir!"

Weil turned to them with his usual sadistic grin looking amused. "Good. It seems the Resistance has finally made a strike."

Kuro felt both relieved and apprehensive about that fact. It was good that that the Resistance was now in a position to resume their operations. that in turn meant that he would have to fight them, however.

"What was their target?" Fefnir asked, excited something was happening that could distract him from his recent loss.

"The Harbor," Weil stated as he pointed at a projected map.

"That's just outside the Transmission sheilding!" Harpuia awed slightly

"M-m-make the fi-irst cut d-d-d-eep..." Copy X analysed the strategy

"Forces?" Kuro asked flatly

"A single squad was reported to have been sighted," a female aide stepped from a station off in the corner that nobody had even noticed. Her brilliant orange hair and blue eyes were a surprising change from the usual drab appearances of the people of NeoArcadia.

"Niege Hiver?" Kuro recognized the woman as a former reporter who had spent most of her career trying to bridge the gaps between humans and reploids.

She nodded briefly, "preliminary reports indicate that the squad was likely the Colbor Elites. It is also said that a red reploid was among them, suspected to be Zero."

"Send me!" Fefnir stepped forward, eager to battle such highly acclaimed enemies.

"It's already taken care of," Weil waved a hand dismissively, "I sent my pet after them."

"Y-y-y-you used Ome-e-e-ga?!" Copy X sounded disgusted and concerned

"Indeed," Weil turned to the projected map as it turned to the feed from a reconnasence mecaniloid. The giant demonic looking machine hovered slowly towards the harbor, passing unphazed through the high energy barrier of the Transmission shielding.

"...Omega..." Kuro had felt shivers both times he'd ever encountered the monstrosity that Dr Weil insisted was a Reploid.

A rocket streaked from the hillside on the other side of the Harbor. It struck Omega's head harmlessly. The faint shadows of movement on the hill the rocket had come from seemed to be actively retreating.

Omega hovered slightly quicker now that he had sighted his prey. He wouldnt catch them at his current pace, but he would keep them in range for a while. He pointed the palm of his hand at the hill and fired a strange ring-looking energy projectile.

A bright green flash occured when it struck the hill, or rather would have. The ring was instead sent skyward by a beam saber that was larger than most and had a triangular shape.

"It's him," Weil sounded like he enjoyed this turn of events. "Perhaps we shall now see who is the real demon..."

"What do you mean?" Sage questioned

Weil ignored him as more and more of those rings were deflected or narrowly dodged.

"He's simply buying them time..." Fefnir said sounding bored.

Omega gave a roar and began firing more rings with his other hand as well. This new assault proved too much to defend as Zero had been. A bright purple flash accompanied the explosion as one hit the hill before a deflected ring hit the reconnasence mechanaloid.

"Useless junk," Weil huffed as he sent for another drone to be sent. By the time that drone arrived however, the battle was finished.

"E-e-e-sca-a-aped," the former leader of NeoArcadia commented.

"A minor bother," Dr Weil commented, "we have new data and we know they are back. It's only a matter of time now." Several screens appeared in front of Weil as he moved over to the consoles, "Yes... only a matter of time. Neige! Deligate them their tasks."

The woman's eyebrow twitched as she nodded, "as you wish." She produced several PDAs and handed them to each of the officers in the room. "Here are your assignments," Neige explained as she passed them out, "Copy X you are to oversee the recovery of the Harbor area. Fefnir, you are to begin organizing assault teams. Harpuia, you are to ascertain the status of the Mechaniloid forces and have them changed according to our needs. and you Shadowhisper..." She double-checked her notes, "are to begin the hunt and assassination of any resistance members you find."


	4. Static

"It's been a while..." Ciel was down the corridor and around the corner from where Zero stood near one of the doors to the buildings the Resistance had been using as a hideout. He was pretty tightly agasint the wall, not in the straight line of the hallway itself. "Do you think they've given up?"

Zero gave a shake of his head, even though he new she couldn't see it. "Not a chance. He must have some experience in sniping. I think relocating to compensate for the sun's movement is alot more likely."

"why would they need to do that?" Colbor asked as he turned to enter the hallway from another room.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Zero yelled as he motioned urgently

A burst of interference sounded on their comms before the loud echo of a shot. Colbor dove and grasped his shoulder as he got behind the corner Ciel was safely behind.

"Are you hurt?" Ciel pulled out a first aid kit and knelt next to her comerade.

Colbor grinned through grit teeth, "barely grazed me. its a miracle."

"Not a miracle..." Zero's tone was more serious than normal. "We all know who's on the other side of that rifle."

The three of them went silent.

"DAMN IT!" Colbor slammed his fist into the ground, "Why did he betray us!"

"He can't help it..." Ciel trailed off as she glanced off to the side before starting to clean the superficial wound on the man's shoulder.

"He's actually fighting it as hard as he can i think..." Zero said as thoughtfully as he could considering the situation.

"Yeah..." Colbor seemed to resign slightly to that point.

"How so?" Ciel seemed lost.

"well, to start with; he's obviously an incredible marksman, remember the first shot?" Zero questioned.

The first shot had claimed Jaune, one of the Resitance's Operators. She had been at her station and out of nowhere, the comms were flooded with static, then she suddenly slumped over her console. the trajectory of the shot had passed through a window the size of a soccer ball, down a hallway, and then through a small viewport on an otherwise reinforced door. The woman had been shot perfectly through the core.

"Yes," Ciel sounded on the verge of crying, she'd been close with the Operator.

"That shot had to have been made from at least a kilometer out, the gunshot was too quiet for any closer. And yet, with shooting like that, he hasn't made a single killshot since in 6 attempts since."

Ciel nodded.

"Also he's warning us," Colbor added as he held a gauze pad on his shoulder which was now starting to heal slowly from the Nanomachines in his blood, being a half-breed he was mostly human with Reploid traits.

"You mean the interference?" Ciel asked.

"Yes," Zero continued, "he also has yet to miss a target, but he hasn't killed anyone since Jaune. I think that the programming that Weil forced on him makes it so that he can't disobey the command to 'attack the Resistance'. But he himself is the one thats actually aiming."

"If only we could capture him," Ciel knew her programming skills were a sham in comparasion to Dr Weil's, but there was always some chance, "I could maybe find a way to free him."

Zero sighed audibly

"What's wrong?"

"He isnt an opponent we can capture."

"WHY?" Ciel felt like she just lost the chance to ever see a friend again.

"He's too strong," Colbor stood and leaned agsainst the wall as close to Zero as he could, "if we face him we have to not only be ready to kill, but to fight for our lives."

Zero nodded, "yeah."

"so..." Ciel sounded defeated, "what do we do now?"

"we need to figure out a plan," Zero was interrupted by another burst of static followed shortly by another bang. A child screaming followed the gunshot.

"ALLOUETTE!" Ciel cried out as she ran in the direction of the screaming.

"MAMA!" The young reploid responded, running sobbing in fear into her adoptive mother's protecting and comforting embrace, "Mr Andre fell apart!"


	5. 10-4

Kuro withdrew from his vantage point, making not a sound or even a plume of dust in the dry wasteland. His rifle's core was spent and it needed to recharge, for which he felt infinately relieved. As he moved away from the ridge he had been firing at those he considered friend, he began to reflect.

"This cant continue," he clenched his fist as he silently hid himself in a rock outcropping. Thunder sounding in the distance echoed his mood, the rage he felt at himself was like a rumbling in his soul. A light rain began to fall so he disabled his cloaking,the falling water would show his shape as clearly as if he weren't cloaked anyways. "Weil," He seethed quietly, "Weil..." Gritting his teeth, Kuro stiffled the yell that would point any scouts right to him.

The rain began to fall harder, creating a muffled pattering all around. Closing his eyes and facing upwards, Kuro removed his helmet to let the rain try to bring some clarity to his thoughts.

The sound of binary-audio filled Kuro's head. "Shade?" Kuro knew this was his past-self's way of communicating.

The warbling continued.

"you've found a weakness to what?"

Again there was binary.

Kuro bolted up, "you can break his hold?"

a shorter message this time.

"only a 'maybe'?"

"Who are you talking to?"

Kuro froze as he heard a microbuster at full-charge directly behind his head, "Zero?... Is Colbor alright?"

"He'll make it," Zero's voice was cold, but there was a touch of both relief and regret when he heard that Kuro was still himself behind Weil's control programs. "Jaune and Andre won't. you're one hell of a shot."

the sound of several other footsteps gathering and weapons being primed met Kuro's ears.

"...Thanks, i tried not to kill them, but my body was compelled to take those shots that were presented."

"You did warn us as best you could," Ciel's voice came from behind the squad that had recently appeared.

"for all the good it did... Shade, says it can be broken."

"Shade?" She replied confused, "I thought you WERE Shade Kraven."

"When X rescued me during the battle two years ago, he did something that separated our personalities. But that's not the important part!" Shade turned to face them, only to have Zero press the gun against his forehead hard enough to nearly break the pseudo-skin.

"DON'T move," there was a quiet rage in Zero's eyes.

Kuro seemed to completely ignore the weapon in his face, almost looking through it over the shoulders of the soldiers protecting the human prodigy. "If he's right, there's some way to free me."

Ciel blinked, "how? Weil's such an incredible programmer his failsafes would have failsafes."

"I don't know, he was just about to tell me."

Zero's finger twitched on the trigger, "I've heard this sort of thing hundreds of times before from Mavericks trying to get out of their sentence."

"Put the gun down," Ciel said to Zero.

"No," Zero insisted, "I'm the only one that can react fast enough to any little move he'd make if this is a farce."

"Sweetheart..." Ciel's voice was somewhere between an order, understanding and scolding.

Zero looked over his shoulder at her for a moment, "he tells us how, THEN I let him go."

"NeoArcadia Control to Kuro Shadowhisper," Niege's voice came from the radio in his helmet still in his hand.

Zero and Kuro locked eyes for a moment before Kuro slowly put his helmet on as Zero took a step back. "Shadowhisper here, go ahead."

"Survellance shows you're compermised, do you need assistance?"

Kuro hadn't thought about how his everymove was likely monitored, but had they heard the exchange thus far? "I don't believe so. I can handle this."

A tinge of relief seemed to be hidden in her voice when Neige responded, "Roger that. I'll be here if you change your mind."

Kuro blinked as he realised the possible implications of what had just happened, "10-4, Shadowhisper out."

"How can we help you?" Ciel repeated, moving up to stand with only Zero between herself and a potential enemy.


	6. Niege Hiver

Kuro returned to NeoArcadia with a slightly new perspective on things. Proceeding to report in to Weil about his two kills before becoming compermised, he was dismissed with a "bah!" and a wave of the cybernetic hand. Weil was working on some kind of plan that the title on the monitor labeled as Ragnarok, too busy to bother with such a petty report.

Neige was waiting in the hallway, an incomprehensible expression on her face, "walk with me."

She led him out of the building and a few blocks away before turning down and alley and walking up a flight of stairs leading to an apartment above the drab street, sitting atop some kind of insurance company. She pointed to a couch, "take off your armor before sitting down, i dont want you to stain my new suede."

"Uh," Kuro got the feeling he shouldn't be here, but complied anyways as Neige dissappeared behind a door which she closed partially.

"I imagine you're wondering what you're doing in my house."

"More or less," he replied as his sensative ears caught the sounds of clothes hitting the floor. "Um, if this is a personal thing I'm flattered, but not interested."

a "HA!" came from the other room. Neige leaned her head out the door, her shoulders bare as she was still obviously changing. She had an amused grin on her face, "you don't know your coworkers very well do you?"

"I just met you the other day," Kuro cocked his head confused.

"Just look around while i finsh changing, it'll come to you."

Kuro did as he was instructed, trying to catch what she meant. when he looked over to the kitchenette, he saw a huge knife. It was far too large for a human to use with any practicality, even most reploids would be hard-pressed to wield it well. In fact, there were only about four reploids that he could think of that would be able to do that.

It came to him in that moment, he flashed-back to when he had first came to NeoArcadia. Neige had been waiting for the railcar when he and Leviathan had gotten to the archives, as she entered it she had answered a call from... "Craft?"

Neige came out wearing an outfit that would seem to fit a guerilla fighter more than an adminsitrative assistant. Her fatigued field-pants fit perfectly so that there was room to move but not so loose as to get in the way, her tanktop was white and had obviously seen much wear over the years as it was thinning and frayed in some spots, even her hair was now slightly messed up. She moved over to the kitchenette and opened the fridge, setting a beer on the counter before looking over at Kuro, "hungry? thirsty?"

"No, thanks." The sudden transformation from the pretty red-headed secratary to some regular gal caught him off-guard.

"Okay," She grabbed a second one and cracked open the first as she set that one into her pocket. She strode over to the couch and sat next to Kuro as she took a drink. She looked him up and down for a moment before looking him right in the eye, "I heard everything."

"You... oh..." Kuro went even quieter than before.

She sat there for a moment before continuing, "you not only didn't attack them on sight, but you had a more-or-less civil discussion with the enemy. A discussion about you defecting."

Kuro nodded slowly.

"Do you have anything to say?" Her eyes bore into Kuro with the force of a high-powered rifle.

"Only that I've been doing my work for NeoArcadia completely against my will since my re-activation," Kuro turned and looked right back into her eyes, "and i would do anything to kill Dr. Weil."

A silence set into the room as they just stared each other down, trying to gauge the situation.

Neige reached into her pocket as she heard heavy steps on the stairs. She threw the beer at the door as it began to open, all of this without looking away from Kuro. "I'll be down in a minute honey, please wait for me there."

Craft saw this staring match as he caught the beer. He knew the look in Neige's eye, "Don't let me interupt an interview then," He simply closed the door and headed back teh way he came.

After another minute, neither of them had broken in the least. Neige smiled and stood, "good. Don't dissappoint me."

"W-what?" This was far from the response he had been expecting.

"If you can find a way to defect... to break his hold..." She brought the can to her lips and tilted her head back, slamming the entire drink in one go. "You'd prove that he isn't as infalible as the people think he is. You'd bring hope to the Reploids. YOU would be the one that can start the Coup that I've been working for since you were even in the picture of this city."

"a coup... how much support do you have?"

Neige shook her head, "not the kind that can make an impact. but the Resistance would show up as soon as we get started. If you and Zero were both fighting agaisnt the Army as well as the soldiers of the Resistance, well..." She sighed, "It still wouldn't be enough. the Einharjar alone would probably be enough to stop you..." She looked at the door, "I don't know if either of you can take him..."

"Craft doesn't know?"

"Are you kidding?" Neige seemed scared slightly. "I'm not sure if even i can turn HIM from Weil."

Kuro went silent, "What about the Guardians and Copy X? Weil made enemies of them recently as well."

"Copy X's override protocal are stronger than the ones on you, that's why he stutters. You'd have to fight him as well... but if all of you turn, it might stir up the people."

"I think that the Resistance has the right idea for now," Kuro said thoughtfully, "Battle him in pieces, knock out his legs before even thinking of going for him."

"That won't work soon," she motioned him to the door talking as Kuro redonned his armor, "I don't know what he's doing. But this Ragnarok plan has the smell of a 'final solution' to me. Weil has to be stopped before it's enacted."

Kuro put his helmet under his arm, "Well, first i have to break free."

"indeed. obviously, not a word will be leaked by either of us about this." Neige held the door open for him.

Kuro stepped out and started down the stairs as Neige locked the door behind her and made sure she had everyhting she needed before following.

Craft caught Kuro by the arm before Neige was in sight, "I don't know what it was, but if you caught her attention you're involved in something deep..." He let go right before Neige would have seen him holding Kuro there, but his dark eyes were locked with Kuro's green ones. "Don't do anything to get yourself in trouble," he said as he offered his date his arm, his words seeming to carry the weight of the world upon them.

Kuro stood there and watched Craft and Neige leave for their date. He thought back to Neige's comment about Craft being able to match himself or Zero. "I wonder..." he turned on his heel back towards the barracks, "would it possibly come to that?"


	7. I'll Take Him On

It seemed that since Shade had figured out how to communicate with Kuro, he took many opportunities to do so. Everything from noting security problems that they could possibly exploit once free, to commenting on ways to improve Kuro's combat skills, to even just random commentary on the things around them. It was starting to get to the point that Kuro occasionally wished for a mute-button. However, he knew from Shade's solution, that it would soon be reversed... hopefully.

Kuro was more quiet than normal, most people attributing it to his greiving his loss. He however knoew he was simply biding his time, waiting for the next time he would be sent to fight the Resistance. But even with both sides knowing he wanted to be capture, they both knew that his body would fight them as if he wanted them all dead. He knew that he wouldn't be able to be taken down to the point of Capture unless he was pitted against Zero, or possibly if the entire Colbor Elitewere there. He hoped it wasn't the second option because he'd kill almost all of them in the process. His chance came three weeks after his talk with Neige.

"ALL STATIONS HIGH ALERT!" The lights shifted to red and the klaxon sounded. This time the alarm had come midday, so most of the Reploids were already at their stations. Harpuia and Kuro had to stop their sparring match in the training center and head to the Admin building.

As they ran down the street having been only a block away Harpuia commented, "you've really improved in the past while Kuro. I won't be able to keep up with you if this keeps up at this rate. Tell me Brother, what drives you so?"

Kuro had noticed that Harpuia had started calling him Brother since Leviathan died, possibly thinking along the lines that they were engaged and would eventually have wed. He stopped right outside the front door and looked Harpuia dead in the eye, "I'm training for the day that an opportunity finally presents itself."

Nodding in grim understanding Harpuia looked up towards the top of the skyscraper, "me too... but he took less from me than he took from you. Kuro you must reign yourself in though, you might stretch yourself so thin that you could miss your chance." With that the green-clad reploid opened the door.

Reaching Weil's office they saluted and waited for the report to begin. Neige brought up a holographic monitor showing several areas in red, "the Resistance has made a major offensive on almost all of our resource control sites. The Einherjar have already been dispatched to several of these locations," as she said that, five of the areas were higlighted in blue. "THere are four remaining assaults that need to be dealt with, and Zero seems to be attacking this one all by himself." One of the areas went black

"I'll take him on," Kuro surprised almost everyone by volunteering

Chuckling amused, Weil hovered over to him, "What brought this on? You're suddenly willing to fight your friends?"

"He got the drop on me on my last mission," Kuro balled his hands into fists and punched them together, "think of this as payback." It wasn't a total lie, Kuro had been upset that Zero would have been able to take him out without a fight last time.

Weil turned back to the projection and seemed to consider it for a moment, "very well, bring me his head."

Kuro saluted and made brief eye contact with Neige before turning on his heel and heading to the Transmission pad in the lobby.


	8. Kuro Shadowhisper Engaged

Kuro appeared on the roof of a warehouse in a flash of light as the Transmission Stream dissapated. He instantly brought his guard up and switched his left hand to the X-Buster as he pulled his beam saber from his hip. He looked around and could immediately tell where Zero was from the explosions of the defense mechaniloids being destroyed. He began charging the buster as he started towards the destruction.

Zero had just finished off a Golem when he heard a plasma discharge. HE activated his speedster and dashed away from the place where the ground now became slagged.

"All units to damage control!" Kuro ordered the mechanaloids as he leapt down to square off a stance as he flourished his saber. "Zero, I think it's time we finally figure out who's the best fighter in this age!"

Zero grinned and hit his radio, "Kuro Shadowhisper engaged." As soon as he finished saying it he swooped in and activated his saber midslash.

Kuro leaned away from the strike and continued the backwards-motion into a flipflop, catching Zero in the chin with his boot as he did. Zero caught himself before he stumbled and pressed the attack.

Kuro had to keep flipping to evade the attacks, delving deep into his combat training files, gathering on Magma Dragoon's hand-to-hand training. His flips became kicks to Zero's arm and dropping onto his back on one of the flips Kuro slashed at the red reploid's legs.

Zero grit his teeth as leaping back had afforded his opponent the time to stand and regain his stance.

This time Kuro charged and swung, Green met Purple in a flash of flaring sparks as the blades crashed over and over. The canvas on the pallets of supplies around the two caught fire from the heated sparks. Soon the area was like a Hell on Earth as many of the supplies were munitions that began to burst from the heat, forcing the fighters apart as they dove for cover from the explosions.

Kuro had ducked behind one of the warehouses and charged the buster again, laughing internally at how this fight to be captured had turned into a rivalry fight for him. It seemed Shade felt similarly as he fed Kuro the memory of Zero's battle with Colonel so long ago to try to gain an advantage.

Instinct made Kuro roll away from the wall as it was suddenly slashed open right where he would have been if not for his warrior's instinct. It was blown open by Zero's buster before a red blur burst out of the hole and a slash grazed Kuro's shoulder. It seemed Zero had gotten serious.

Kuro realized that it was now that the fight began. And without missing a step, he reset his stance into a knife-fighter's and reversed the grip on his blade and began rocking to get more elasticity in his movements. This time he was ready as Zero came in at the blinding speed he had just displayed. The sparks were less as Kuro was now using his off-hand as a blocking hand instead of the X-Buster.

Zero's speed was overwhelming, but Kuro was able to keep up barely. Kuro turned a block into a defense-breaker and followed up with a kick to stagger Zero. Zero's body was shifted enough by the blow for Kuro to take the offensive.

Kuro began spinning using his reverse grip to create a buzzsaw-like attack. Zero could barely hold up agaisnt the combination of Kuro's strength, speed and the centrifugal froce adding to the strike power and was being pressed back. He knew he was only a few meters from his back hitting a wall so he had to do something. He decided it was time to test out a new weapon. Timing it carefully, Zero added more force to his next block and stepped into it to break Kuro's attack chain.

Kuro was staggered for just a moment, but that moment was all Zero needed as he dashed in at his maxium speed and activating his newest subroutine, thust his hand at Kuro in a Tiger Claw Strike.

Kuro's breath left him as his abdomen was penetrated by Zero's reinforced fingers. He almost dropped his saber as Zero pulled his hand back, however he found one last defiant strike in him as he stepped forward and swung. Instead of his weapon meeting Zero however, Zero's fist found Kuro's face.

"It's over Kuro, give up."

Some part of Kuro refused to be beaten, and it wasnt simply the Override Programs. He brought up the buster he still remembered to be charged and brought it to bear on his target. Zero dodged as it was fired.

The Golem that had taken up position behind Zero as he was defeating Kuro fell to the ground disabled and smoking profusely. Kuro chuckled slightly as he fell to his knees, "you got me Zero... this time."

Zero stood straight and looked around, finding it harder than he thought. He ran a diagnostic scan and found that many of the light blows that Kuro had barely managed to land were numerous enough that he had actually taken some decent damage. "Yeah," he mused, "THIS time is right. If we had both fought this as a duel to the death, it could have gone either way."

Kuro smiled slightly as he fought his body trying to rise and continue, "knock me out so we dont have to find out..."

Zero nodded and struck Kuro in the back of the neck in a way that caused his neural systems to overload and make him lose conciousness. Zero groaned slightly as he reached up for his helmet, "Zero to Operator."

"Rouge here, go ahead."

"Kuro shadowhisper in custody, two for return transmission."

"Roger," Rouge let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back into her chair and removed her headset. She turned to face Ciel and smile, "Mission success."


	9. Love Conquers All

Ciel took off the glasses she was wearing as she worked and tried to rub the tired from her eyes. She didn't need the glasses but she felt it helped her focus when she was working on projects that proved particularly difficult. She leaned back in her chair and turned slightly to look at Kuro's motionless body; he was in a forced standyby-mode and restrained by a pair of grade-A titanium bars, just in case. "Your solution is sound in theory, perfect even. however i simply can't figure out how to access the Black Box Data in the Shadow Drive systems."

The door hissed open and Zero silently strode in and set a mug of coffee on Ciel's workstation. "Any progress?"

Sighing Ciel put her glasses back on, "none whatsoever. The idea of switching Kuro's control routines to Shade should work in rendering Weil's overrides useless..." She motioned at the screen showing a series of programming data that looked like it had been heavily censored with all the blacked-out areas on the screen. "Shade is somewhere in there, and if i cant access him, i can't transfer even a single bit of data to his accesses."

Zero placed a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder, "he believes in you. The Resistance believes in you. I believe in you. You are the brightest hope for the future there is."

Ciel reached up and squeezed Zero's hand. She gave a slightly reassured look before reaching for the coffee and sipping at it. She stared intently at the data on the screen, "I feel like the answer is so simple that its impossible."

"Maybe its that we already have the answer but we dont know it," Zero suggested.

"hmmm," Ciel sipped again. The expression on her face made anyone looking at her feel like they could 'see the gears in her head turning'.

Zero left for the door as quietly as he'd entered, "I've got to head out on patrol. Maybe someone else might be able to spin an idea."

"Be careful out there," Ciel spun her chair to smile at Zero, "I love you."

Zero smiled and nodded back, letting his expression speak rather than his words.

Ciel turned back to her work as the door closed. She stretched and looked over at Kuro, "I'll crack this, don't worry. You'll have the chance to avenge Leviathan soon."

Turning back to the screen she took another sip of her coffee. She paused and set the cup off to the side, "It can't be that simple..." She started hammering away at the keyboard until a "global cypher input" prompt appeared. 'Leviathan', She typed.

The screen flickered and the black zones turned to hexidecimals. However they still didn't make sense.

Trying again, this time with 'Siren'. it yeilded similar results, as did 'Fairy'. Ciel brought her hand to her chin as she thought. "I'm on to something... but I'm thinking of the wrong 'him'... what was her name?" Standing, Ciel walked over to a file cabinet and pulled out a manilla folder and started flipping through it.

A sly smile graced the young woman's face as she found what she was looking for, a pretty blonde Reploid dressed in the fashion of a nurse. "Cinnamon Gaudile. It's time for you to help your love be the man he wants to be."

Not even bothering to sit, Ciel typed in 'Cinnamon'.

The screen flickered like before. but unlike before, the data on the screen was in a programming language she understood as easily as a children's book. "Love conquers all."


	10. Concerns

Since the attack, NeoArcadia had been on lockdown. Their supplies were crippled by the Resistance. And loathe as he was to admit it, the capture of Kuro slightly concerned Weil.

Fefnir, Harpuia and Copy X were more concerned for Kuro's welfare, especially since the military was in fill-tilt, preparing for the coming battle. The three of them knew what had to be done, even if one of them was literally incapable of doing so. The three of them were preparing for the coming conflict in their own way.

Craft was concerned about Neige. She seemed to be acting slightly differently, more careful. He wondered if maybe Kuro had gotten to her when he had seen them talking. The Einherjar under his command were busy preparing for the Ragnarok project. He was always ready, its just who he was.

Ciel was concerned about how slow the progress was with Kuro. Even though she had unlocked the puzzle, she still needed to make all the pieces fit. She was short on time, she knew how pressed the Resistance was at this time.

The Resistance was concerned. They were low on personel, supplies and morale. The time to make their move was coming, but the odds were stacked entirely agasint them. Their biggest issue was intel: the enemy was ever-growing, their list of potential allies was thin, and there were many enemies they had never seen using their full-abilities. The coming battles felt like walking blindfolded into a room of unsheathed swords, the slightest mistake would cause their demise.

Zero was concerned about the future. If Kuro was ready by the time he was needed, it would tilt the scales slightly. However, even if they managed to somehow come out on top, what would happen after? Was there another like Weil hiding in the shadows? Would Reploid-kind be able to recover from the brink they currently teetered on? Both humans and reploids were becoming endangered species via their own actions, could they be saved?

It was at this point that the Radio Transmission that would change everything came over the open-air, "We are a convoy of Refugees escaping from Neo Arcadia! Under heavy persuit! Anyone that can, please help!"


	11. Convoy Battle

The Resistance split into two groups, the main body went to their final hiding place, waiting for when they were needed. The second consisted of Ciel, Zero, Rouge, Cerveau, a few other techs, a handful of soldiers and a still unfinished Kuro; they loaded into the armored trailers and rushed as fast as they could towards the refugee caravan.

It was two hours before they were in scanning range of the refugees. Heavy persuit hadn't been an understatement, a full detatchment was dedicated to their destruction. Zero primed all his weapons as did the few soldiers with the group. Rouge's voice came over the comms, "Nearing mobile transmission range! Prepare for sortie!"

Zero and the soldiers moved to the small transmission pads and crouched with a 'four on the floor' stance.

"It's gonna be a rough insert," Rouge explained as the pads hummed as they charged, "and the enemy is heavily armed. This is gonna be a dirty rescue, save as many as you can and stay alive! Transmission in 3... 2... 1..GO!"

The change in speeds from the trailers to the roofs of the convoy almost threw the Resistance members right off the trucks. Surrounded by gunfire and mechanaloids they didn't even have time to get proper footing before being forced into a firefight.

Zero dispatched a handful of enemy footmen before they could turn on the soldiers trying to get their bearings. The bodies of the mechaniloids slid apart from the blade damage or simply exploded as they were hit by his microbuster. He rushed forward over the trucks one by one, reducing enemy numbers anywhere he could. He moved with the speed and alacrity of the battle-god he was.

On top of the first truck was Neige. Her leg was wounded, but it didnt seem to slow her down from weilding an LMG as if she had been born with it. Not a single enemy got withing her range and remained intact. Zero was amazed with the tenacity of the human woman. however, she was only human. The mechaniloids got closer and closer every second, and her ammo belt was starting to get short.

Hurrying, Zero rushed towards her. "GET BACK INSIDE THE TRUCK!"

Neige grit her teeth and threw the now empty gun at an enemy that was now in swords-reach. She pulled out a pistol and tried to get back to the relative safety of the cab of the truck.

The whole skirmish went to hell when a large missle-like object landed in front of the convoy, causing the drivers to all swerve to avoid it. This sent NeoArcadian forces, Resistance members and supplies alike flying about as the momentum threw them from the tops of the vehicles.

As everyone stood slowly from the chaos, a low and demonic roar eminated from the missle. The NeoArcadian forces withdrew back to their carrier that seemed to leave in a hurry.

Ciel exited one of the trailers which had stopped a short distance away and pointed all the drivers of the convoy towards what seemed like a forest or something of the like a short distance away.

Loud hissing and clanks filled the air as the seals on the missle opened up to reveal one of the most dangerous beings to have ever existed.

Ciel brought her hands to her mouth and tried to keep from trembling, "Oh no... Omega."


End file.
